Cure cycle and my commission by Tony Green

In any sales position salespeople are paid on the amount of sales they generate.
Selling industrial products is no different. Customers are attained and maintained if they get value for what they pay for and the value is communicated in a consistent manner.

The promotion of these products are the same as any product because the customer is still a person but different since the ultimate value is dependent upon the benefits that they received.

In many industrial fields, Chemistry in particular, the value comes from the actual properties and behavior of the chemicals in the customer’s application.
Case in point, I work in the chemical industry. My primary function is to market and sale epoxy chemicals to our customers. The electrical and heat resistance properties of epoxies find many uses as sealants, adhesive agents and in various other applications.

Epoxy polymers are cured by a process which is referred to as cross linking. Heat applied causes the molecules to form a three dimensional network of molecules. The time the reaction takes to complete is known as the cure cycle.
How does this relate to sales? Part of my job is to understand what the customer values. From my experience customers require as a short time as possible for curing to occur for their applications. There are many instances where this time can be shortened without loss of performance.

In the end, understanding the details of the cure cycle allows you to move the sales process forward. It will allow you to understand and communicate the customer requirements straight to your company who will use its expertise to provide the best possible solution. This does not turn out in the sales persons favor all the time. At times other polymers are better suited to the customer’s application. My training allows me to be to supply engineering support to our customer while the engineer does engineering.

In short, my perspective on chemical sales may be different due to my roots as an engineer prior to thinking about entering sales. In my view if you are already technically inclined why not have total control of your sales process? After all it is my commission.